Fueling a Widow Maker

By

Brian Baskin

Updated Feb. 16, 2009 11:59 p.m. ET

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DJ-AIG Commodity Indexes

NYMEX HEATING OIL AND GASOLINE FUTURES are reverting to more familiar trading patterns after a wild 2008 -- but investors may need to brace for a return of "the widow maker." Most years, heating-oil futures trade at a premium to gasoline during the colder fall and winter months, then swing to a discount as gasoline use spikes in the spring and summer. The two fuels serve very different markets, but a routine trading strategy attempts to exploit the seasonally shifting price difference between...

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